Play your part in reducing fashion waste

I've had a lot of chats recently about recycling and waste and not just within my industry. The other day I was chatting with my lovely hair colourist after spotting a sticker on the mirror in front of me that read "did you know your hair is used the clean up oil spills". She told me all about this incredible organisation called Sustainable Salons who pretty much recycle and/or repurpose all of the waste products that come out of a salon. they provide you with all the equipment you need to dispose of things like colour tubes and all the packaging that come with them and yes even the hair that is continually swept up off the floor. Not only do they take it all away for you they actually reward you for doing your bit with credits that can be used to purchase things like recycled toilet paper for the bathrooms, amazing really!

It got me thinking of A. we need a service like that collects off-cuts from the cutting tables of fashion businesses and re-homes the fabric to start with but also B. most brands keep creating new packaging for each product they deliver to a customer which is pretty yes, but really down right crazy. Thankfully I've stumbled across a very smart solution to my second query, created by two clever women over in NZ, enter Better Packaging Co. Fellow Australian Fashion Council member Peter Naughton interviewed co-founder Kate Bezar recently for the Sustainability Portal to find out all about their fabulous returnable, recyclable and compostable packaging solutions for the new economy, hurrah!